Speaker 1: Today's episode was recorded before the SAG after strike began
Speaker 1: on July fourteenth. Table for two Thanks you, as always
Speaker 1: for tuning in and supporting entertainers. Hello everyone, and thank
Speaker 1: you for joining us for another episode of Table for two.
Speaker 1: We're back in my hometown, New York City at the
Speaker 1: unrivaled Via Cororota, and I'm thrilled to be having lunch
Speaker 1: with another hometown boy today.
Speaker 2: Thank you for joining me today. Pleasure you look good.
Speaker 3: No, I'm hanging in there.
Speaker 1: He's a Broadway actor, a movie star, and he's married
Speaker 1: to one of the most famous actresses in the world,
Speaker 1: Sarah Jessica Parker. He and Sarah Jessica are taking Plaza
Speaker 1: Suite the Neil Simon Play to London's West End next year,
Speaker 1: following what was a sold out Broadway run. He was
Speaker 1: just in No Hard Feelings, one of the biggest comedies
Speaker 1: of twenty twenty three, and he's also playing the infamous
Speaker 1: farmer exact Richard Sackler in the Netflix limited series Painkiller.
Speaker 2: What do you want to eat?
Speaker 4: Oh?
Speaker 2: Do you need a menu?
Speaker 3: What do you eat?
Speaker 2: I'm gonna do that. Catch your to pethag because I
Speaker 2: have to. That's good that's good. That's right. Today we're
Speaker 2: having lunch with Matthew Broderick.
Speaker 5: Sorry listeners at home that you can't have just a
Speaker 5: little of.
Speaker 1: That, So pull up a chair, pour yourself a glass
Speaker 1: of rose, and enjoy the show. I'm Bruce Bosi and
Speaker 1: this is my podcast Table for two. I kind of
Speaker 1: want to start Matthew. I have such an affinity for you.
Speaker 1: I think you're just one of the nicest people, most
Speaker 1: talented people.
Speaker 2: If you're a New York boy. I grew up in
Speaker 2: the village. I was a huge fan of your dad
Speaker 2: as well.
Speaker 1: He's an actor who's in a TV show called Family
Speaker 1: for those of you who don't know, uh, James Broderick.
Speaker 1: Kind of show that was so special and so embodied
Speaker 1: such like warmth. What was it like growing up in
Speaker 1: New York City your kid New York? Yeah, which was different,
Speaker 1: you know than it is now for your kids.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it sure was. Let's see, I grew up on
Speaker 5: Washington Square North.
Speaker 2: I know, I can't believe them. I always think of
Speaker 2: you when I passed by that streets.
Speaker 5: A series of Brownstone, Yeah, yeah, we were in the
Speaker 5: one not Brownstone, the one like apartment shabby apartment filting
Speaker 5: on that block.
Speaker 3: It was us.
Speaker 5: But I was born on Ninth Street and Fifth Avenue
Speaker 5: in a very small apartment with my two We were
Speaker 5: all in one room, me and my two sisters.
Speaker 2: Wow, you were born in No, I was born.
Speaker 3: In the hospital, I could say.
Speaker 5: But I was taken in my blanket to Ninth Street
Speaker 5: until I was four, and then I moved. The big
Speaker 5: move was to Washington was two blocks down Fifth, okay,
Speaker 5: and then we had our own bedroom.
Speaker 3: Right, So that's where I really grew up. The village
Speaker 3: was the park was there.
Speaker 5: Was bongos and drums all day. We had some windows
Speaker 5: facing the park. Yeah, there's a lot of music all
Speaker 5: the time.
Speaker 3: There was less like rules. It was open all night.
Speaker 2: Stuff was going down. Yeah, it wasn't.
Speaker 1: And because you faced the park when it got dark,
Speaker 1: it was dark on the other side. It's like normally
Speaker 1: there's two sides of the street that have lights, so
Speaker 1: it could.
Speaker 2: Get a little dicey.
Speaker 3: Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 2: Did you get mugged.
Speaker 3: I got mugged often all through the village. I mugged
Speaker 3: all over the village really, end Times Square area. Come
Speaker 3: on upper west side.
Speaker 2: Explain to the listener.
Speaker 1: Because I got mugged once on Third Avenue and they
Speaker 1: were like, we're going to shove your head through this
Speaker 1: like window, give us When I had like five bucks.
Speaker 2: It was like nineteen.
Speaker 3: I never had any money, and people will constantly wanted it.
Speaker 1: Yea, what was the target over you that you think
Speaker 1: that you were constantly getting mugged?
Speaker 5: I think a young guy, you know, this is like
Speaker 5: I'm talking like twelve, you know.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's when an abuts a lot.
Speaker 2: You too.
Speaker 3: And it was mostly other boys.
Speaker 5: You know, just being bullies and you know, getting money,
Speaker 5: you know, lunch money or something like that.
Speaker 3: But sometimes somewhat scary. Yeah.
Speaker 5: You know, me and my friend Garo were skateboarding in
Speaker 5: Central Park once and a massive gang came flying out
Speaker 5: and took our skateboards and I got whacked in the
Speaker 5: head with some sort of stick. That's the only time
Speaker 5: I got kind of worked. So you know, it was
Speaker 5: no not a joke, and thank god, you know, we
Speaker 5: all survived it. But but and most of them were
Speaker 5: not like that. They were more intimidating. I'm going to
Speaker 5: put your head through the glass and you know, give
Speaker 5: me what you got, or you get on the subway
Speaker 5: and somebody would sit next to you and put their
Speaker 5: arm around you rather aggressively and say, you know, what's
Speaker 5: in your pocket?
Speaker 3: What's your name?
Speaker 1: Where?
Speaker 3: You know, just be like asking a lot of questions. Yeah,
Speaker 3: just waiting praying for the train to come out of
Speaker 3: the tunnel on the platform. You know, I still remember that.
Speaker 1: I mean, don't you think the skill set is born
Speaker 1: from being a kid in New York? Your parents are not.
Speaker 1: They're doing their thing, They trust the world, and you're surviving.
Speaker 3: It's true.
Speaker 5: Yeah, back then they weren't as at least it didn't
Speaker 5: feel like it. They weren't as watchful as we are
Speaker 5: to our kids.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: It wasn't no, they were not watchful at all.
Speaker 3: Just yeah, they were kind of like they'd.
Speaker 5: Love to go to the park and come back from
Speaker 5: time for dinner, and that was it.
Speaker 2: Would you even come back and say I was mugged
Speaker 2: today on a subway or just.
Speaker 3: Once or twice.
Speaker 5: Yeah, sometimes, like a police officer would come to our
Speaker 5: school and give us a talk, you know, how to
Speaker 5: react properly when you're being mug right, And he said,
Speaker 5: always bring money with you. Don't go out with no
Speaker 5: money and immediately give it up and try to make
Speaker 5: the experience as fast as possible. More time you're haggling
Speaker 5: or discussing, more time you're in the.
Speaker 3: Situation the worst. I always remembered that, So try to
Speaker 3: have it. That's a good conclusion, even if the conclusion
Speaker 3: is your own. To do it as quickly as possible.
Speaker 1: So you have like your band of brothers, and you
Speaker 1: would just like kind of I mean, so I think
Speaker 1: New York City growing up in New York City is
Speaker 1: one of the best places to grow up.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well it was great for me. I mean it's
Speaker 3: you know, it's I don't have anything to compare it to,
Speaker 3: you know, but my best friend then and still you know,
Speaker 3: one of my very best friends is getting named Garrow.
Speaker 5: And he lived a block from me, so we would
Speaker 5: walk to school together and walk home school together. He
Speaker 5: lived in Washington News and uh, as we grew up,
Speaker 5: you know, we used the park for softball, skateboarding him Frisbee. Uh,
Speaker 5: you know, it was like a like a more like
Speaker 5: a playground back then. I guess it still is, you know,
Speaker 5: around the fountain.
Speaker 3: And all that.
Speaker 5: But but it used to be even those fields were
Speaker 5: improvised ball fields, you know, and now they're kind of
Speaker 5: like glowing on the grass and whenever.
Speaker 2: Right, there's chains and stuff that you can't.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and I knew some neighborhood kids that way too,
Speaker 5: so you know, through through softball and baseball, I knew
Speaker 5: those kids. And and some of them I still see,
Speaker 5: and I don't remember.
Speaker 3: We don't remember each other's names. But there's always a way.
Speaker 2: You know, thing about New York to me. Don't you
Speaker 2: kind of feel like it's Maybury?
Speaker 5: And yeah, yeah, it's it's little Mayberry is all over
Speaker 5: the place, Like we recently moved two blocks and I
Speaker 5: feel like I'm in another I.
Speaker 2: Know, it's crazy, right, Yeah, I'm.
Speaker 3: Like I go to a different place to get the water.
Speaker 3: Everything's different, you know, and.
Speaker 2: And like you to establish new relationships.
Speaker 3: Yes, and which train station do I go to?
Speaker 5: And it's just it's a new world and it's only
Speaker 5: it's only two blocks away?
Speaker 2: Crazy. Yeah, So you are like one with the subway.
Speaker 3: Like I'm a subway man.
Speaker 2: Yeah, because some people of your nage, of your stature.
Speaker 1: Of your celebrity would not be so comfy on Yeah,
Speaker 1: the number one and nine.
Speaker 5: And number one is beautiful train. The exist it used
Speaker 5: to be the one nine.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean traffic is so horrendous in New York.
Speaker 5: It's just I love to get under that traffic, and
Speaker 5: I'm not so I don't get bothered on the train,
Speaker 5: not really.
Speaker 2: No, are you like baseball hat dark glasses?
Speaker 3: I might try to wear a hat. Yeah, you don't
Speaker 3: wear dark glasses.
Speaker 5: And uh, I think I even like reading about how
Speaker 5: they built the subway right, kind of like subways.
Speaker 3: I like, did you want to go to another country?
Speaker 5: I like to take the tube or you know, the
Speaker 5: metro or I was curious about cities how they get around.
Speaker 3: I've always liked that.
Speaker 1: I think that's the best way to learn. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: if you're in New York, it's it's really the most efficient.
Speaker 1: Otherwise you're just absolutely it's horrible. So I'm a little
Speaker 1: bit about your parents or your mom's an artist, was
Speaker 1: an artist, great artist, and her shows the show and
Speaker 1: your dad incredible actor.
Speaker 2: Were they the influence for you to get into the arts?
Speaker 4: Was that?
Speaker 2: How did that happen from?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 3: They probably were. You know.
Speaker 4: I grew up loving to draw, for instance, you know,
Speaker 4: and I went to a school that was very called
Speaker 4: City and Country, very progressive back then, particularly and really
Speaker 4: good art studio and Clay, and I always liked art and.
Speaker 3: But I didn't know.
Speaker 5: I had never thought about being an actor really, but
Speaker 5: our house was always talking about paintings or plays or
Speaker 5: my you know, my parents' friends were mostly in theater
Speaker 5: or some kind of show business, but also.
Speaker 2: Artists coming and going.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 5: But you know, my father was from New Hampshire and
Speaker 5: he didn't get to New York, so he was in
Speaker 5: his twenties, and so he wasn't exactly a bohemian.
Speaker 3: He was. He seemed like somebody from New Hampshire, right,
Speaker 3: and he did.
Speaker 1: I mean, I didn't know your dad, but yeah, even
Speaker 1: in the role he played on Family.
Speaker 3: Yeah he was.
Speaker 5: He was a little like that, but much funnier. And
Speaker 5: his you know, his dad was a letter carrier.
Speaker 3: Like.
Speaker 5: He did not come from the villagey arty rule, but
Speaker 5: my mom came kind of. She was wealthy when she
Speaker 5: was a kid, you know, on Park.
Speaker 3: Avenue where she grew upright, but always wanted to get
Speaker 3: to the village. Now she went to like that. So
Speaker 3: that's the combination that I grew up in.
Speaker 2: How did they meet?
Speaker 3: They met at acting school.
Speaker 5: My father, when he got out of the navy, went
Speaker 5: to a place called the Neighborhood Playhouse, a very famous
Speaker 5: acting school. My mom was there as a playwright actually
Speaker 5: because she somebody had said, you know, if you want
Speaker 5: to write plays, you should take.
Speaker 3: An acting class. So and there's even a picture of
Speaker 3: them in the same class. Yeah. So I grew up
Speaker 3: like that. I grew up in a lot in backstage
Speaker 3: at theaters with my father.
Speaker 5: We would have our summers were often he'd get a
Speaker 5: job at a summer theater and the family would get
Speaker 5: to go to you know, Stockbridge, Massachusetts or wherever it
Speaker 5: was and the little house.
Speaker 3: So that's how I got out of the city.
Speaker 5: And I liked to be at the theater, like I
Speaker 5: would go with him at night because I just liked
Speaker 5: to be backstage. It wasn't that I wanted to be
Speaker 5: an actor particularly or whatever, but I wanted.
Speaker 2: To be in that something about it.
Speaker 3: I liked the room. I don't know what it is.
Speaker 3: I liked. I liked the atmosphere backstage.
Speaker 5: I liked the quiet, you know, and seriousness of it,
Speaker 5: the important to pretend importance of it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so that that was a big part of Probably why.
Speaker 1: Do you remember specific shows that you saw that really
Speaker 1: affected you?
Speaker 5: Yeah, My father did a House of Blue Leaves, which
Speaker 5: was very good. He did it in Chicago and maybe
Speaker 5: someplace else too, and he was great in that one,
Speaker 5: and I loved that.
Speaker 3: I watched that a million times and he did it.
Speaker 5: O'Neill play Desire under the Elms that had Eva Marie
Speaker 5: Saint in it, Wow, and John Ritter, just Ivan Maris
Speaker 5: Saint was in it.
Speaker 3: My father was in it, okay, and it went.
Speaker 5: It was like it was successful. You know, what's three
Speaker 5: different cities, I believe. And I watched that play a
Speaker 5: billion times. Okay, whether it was good or not, I
Speaker 5: think it was good, but I just like to I
Speaker 5: just like to watch it.
Speaker 1: Life is so fascinating to me because you say, Evan
Speaker 1: Marie Saint who stars in a movie with Marlon Brando
Speaker 1: on the Waterfront, and then later on in your life
Speaker 1: you star in a movie with Marlon Brando called.
Speaker 2: The Freshman, Like, there's just something.
Speaker 5: About yeah that it's incredible, And sometimes I don't a
Speaker 5: lot of I have memories like that where I don't
Speaker 5: realize how incredible it is until like now I'm watching
Speaker 5: even Saint and I'll be like, what the hell, why
Speaker 5: didn't I just sweeze her and say, I can't believe
Speaker 5: I'm with you, right, you know, No, you don't.
Speaker 6: No.
Speaker 5: I just saw the documentary about Mary Tyler Moore that's
Speaker 5: on right, so good.
Speaker 2: How emotional.
Speaker 5: And I met her a couple of times, you know,
Speaker 5: over the years, and we did some like thing for
Speaker 5: the SPCA together, and I wish I had just told
Speaker 5: her I madly in love with you since I was little.
Speaker 5: I can't believe what you've done for the world. And
Speaker 5: you know, but you don't do those things, you know.
Speaker 5: I met add Asner, and I never said, you're the
Speaker 5: greatest freaking.
Speaker 3: Actor, the funniest person.
Speaker 5: I love ed Asner, but I never really told him that.
Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us on Table for two. Matthew grew
Speaker 1: up in the theater, watching his father perform countless times,
Speaker 1: so it seems natural that he would end up acting
Speaker 1: as well. I'm curious when he made the transition to
Speaker 1: Center State.
Speaker 2: What was the.
Speaker 1: First sort of lean into the theater world where I'm
Speaker 1: going to actually be in front?
Speaker 2: Now, yeah, did that happen in high school?
Speaker 3: Probably?
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean a little bit in you know, little
Speaker 5: plays in grammar school, which I enjoyed, but then also
Speaker 5: I should mention. When I was five, I wrote on
Speaker 5: my library card actor as professional he did.
Speaker 3: That's what. That's so, I'm told, But I didn't do
Speaker 3: anything about it. That is so.
Speaker 5: But then in high school, I liked sports, you know,
Speaker 5: and I really liked acting, but I was afraid to
Speaker 5: even tell anybody that.
Speaker 2: Oh to be made fun of.
Speaker 3: I don't know, I think I was very I was
Speaker 3: actually pretty shy.
Speaker 5: I was kind of didn't want to audition, and a
Speaker 5: lot of actors are not very outgoing. It seems like,
Speaker 5: at least at first, you know, reguarded or something. But
Speaker 5: you know, I hurt my knee really badly when I
Speaker 5: was about fifteen with sports. Yeah, were you a baseball player?
Speaker 5: And I was playing soccer at that time. Not very seriously,
Speaker 5: but I loved I worked hard, and I you know,
Speaker 5: I had surgery quite serious.
Speaker 2: Oh wow, they're any and like a meniscus.
Speaker 5: Torn, yeah, and like dislocated knee cap and the whole
Speaker 5: thing had to be And it was just back when
Speaker 5: they had to.
Speaker 2: Write like it was a big surgery. Yeah, it wasn't
Speaker 2: like a little surgery.
Speaker 3: Right, So I had no excuse.
Speaker 5: So I auditioned for the play because I couldn't play sports, right,
Speaker 5: And I did a Midsummer Night's Dream in high school.
Speaker 3: Okay, little teeny part. You got a couple of laughs,
Speaker 3: you did.
Speaker 5: Yeah, And I thought I was like Michael Corleoni when
Speaker 5: you know, when the people are going.
Speaker 3: To kill his father at the hospital.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and the car goes by and the florist's hands
Speaker 5: are shaking, right, and Michael Corleoni's hands are studies a rock.
Speaker 3: Right. When I was on.
Speaker 5: Stage, nervous as I had been all month getting ready,
Speaker 5: I was like, I'm not that nervous. I'm kind of
Speaker 5: I'm nervous, but I feel somewhat in control up here.
Speaker 2: You're supposed to be there.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I had some little inkling that this is something
Speaker 5: I could maybe do.
Speaker 2: So you enjoyed that little piece.
Speaker 5: I enjoyed my little part, and and that led to
Speaker 5: another high school part, a bigger part.
Speaker 1: When did you start to flip into auditioning professional stuff?
Speaker 3: Well, somebody, what year are we at now?
Speaker 1: So, like you graduated, we're talking early eighties late.
Speaker 3: I think I graduated in eighty eighty. Okay, so I
Speaker 3: graduate high school in eighty right, it's a.
Speaker 2: Big decade now for you.
Speaker 1: What was the first, like, Oh, okay, we're gonna You're
Speaker 1: gonna go out for this role.
Speaker 5: There was a student at my school whose mother was
Speaker 5: a casting director, Barbara Kleman, and I think she called
Speaker 5: like the director of the theater stuff at the school
Speaker 5: and said, you know, you have any anybody fifteen or
Speaker 5: whatever who's good, and a couple of us went in an
Speaker 5: audition for her. That's my memory of it or what.
Speaker 5: I don't remember that it was for anything. It must
Speaker 5: have been. I didn't get whatever part it was, but
Speaker 5: she took an interest in me. You know, when other
Speaker 5: things came up, I would I read a few times.
Speaker 5: And then somebody said, there's an agent and this name
Speaker 5: is going to sound like I'm making it up, but
Speaker 5: named Fifi Oscard.
Speaker 3: What. Yeah.
Speaker 5: It was a big agency, I believe, mostly for kids
Speaker 5: and maybe poodles.
Speaker 3: Fifi Oscard, Fifi Oscard, that was her name. But she
Speaker 3: wasn't my agent. I was somebody below her.
Speaker 2: She was a top dog.
Speaker 3: You were Josha Silberstein and Steve Carlson. So I suddenly
Speaker 3: had an agent.
Speaker 5: And then I started getting a lot of auditions really,
Speaker 5: and I didn't get any parts, but I uh, right, away,
Speaker 5: but I guess I got enough, you know, where somebody called.
Speaker 5: They said we don't want him, but he was good
Speaker 5: or whatever they kept.
Speaker 2: It was like affirm enough to go in there. Okay.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 5: I got a part in a huge movie, a movie
Speaker 5: it was called No Small Affair, and I was opposite
Speaker 5: Sally Field and it didn't get made.
Speaker 3: Well, it did get.
Speaker 5: Made later, but I was the lead, you know, and
Speaker 5: it was directed by Marty Writt and they had all
Speaker 5: just won Oscars for Norma Ray, right, you know.
Speaker 3: It was a top, top of the line Columbia picture.
Speaker 2: Your first job, yeah, going to be that was.
Speaker 3: My first paying job.
Speaker 5: And I auditioned, you know, a dozen times, and then
Speaker 5: with Sally Field and a hotel room and Mary written
Speaker 5: and we shot. I worked for months trying to, you know,
Speaker 5: because I was so young and naive, trying to. I
Speaker 5: was playing a photographer, so I had a camera run.
Speaker 5: I tried to learn photography. I tried to pull on
Speaker 5: DeNiro myself.
Speaker 2: You know, wait a minute. So this was made later,
Speaker 2: yea years later, with.
Speaker 3: John Cryer and exactly, oh my god, okay, and.
Speaker 5: We shot for about two weeks and it went okay
Speaker 5: for a while, but then I started to feel like
Speaker 5: they didn't really like me that much. Marty Ritt or something.
Speaker 5: There were a couple of scenes where he was kind
Speaker 5: of on me. I guess he was having health issues
Speaker 5: and there was doctors coming to the set. His blood
Speaker 5: pressure was super high. And then they called and said,
Speaker 5: don't come to work, you know, or no. I came
Speaker 5: to work and they said, just don't change.
Speaker 3: Just stay in.
Speaker 5: Your street clothes. Yeah, in your camper, you know, your
Speaker 5: honeywagon or whatever. I played Catcher in Central Park with
Speaker 5: some of the crew, was there all day and then
Speaker 5: they said, go home.
Speaker 3: We'll call you tomorrow. We're still delayed. We're delayed. And
Speaker 3: then a few days later my agent called and said
Speaker 3: it's over. Wow, he said, sit down.
Speaker 2: But lots of drag.
Speaker 3: But the position I was ruined. I thought I was ruined.
Speaker 2: But yeah, you're right, it positioned you.
Speaker 3: I mean, you got that.
Speaker 5: But I also felt like I had failed, you know,
Speaker 5: which I don't really think is true.
Speaker 3: I Sally Field wrote me a really nice letter, yeah,
Speaker 3: you know, saying hang in there and not.
Speaker 2: I think it's the nature of the business.
Speaker 3: It was, and I didn't know that though. For your
Speaker 3: first job to dis very few movies to integrate.
Speaker 2: Two weeks in, I think it could kill the spirit.
Speaker 5: I was, I think, mate looking back on it, and
Speaker 5: I became depressed. I spent the summer in New York
Speaker 5: basically lying around my parents' house and uh, whining and
Speaker 5: just being quiet.
Speaker 2: I kind of yeah, I bet, I mean here you.
Speaker 3: Are in yeah.
Speaker 5: And now I'm auditioning for a radio spot about Bubble
Speaker 5: Young literally and not getting it right, you know, or
Speaker 5: a summerstock small part, and they're and they're not letting
Speaker 5: me finish the auditionary. Like I've gone from having my
Speaker 5: Academy Award speech working on that in the tub at
Speaker 5: night to uh.
Speaker 3: You know, bubble Yum's now super young.
Speaker 5: There's never been a YOUM like this, And they're like, no,
Speaker 5: you're not good enough.
Speaker 3: You're not good enough for that. So the career was over,
Speaker 3: I thought, wrapped up, done, and it.
Speaker 5: Was always a looming if I really fail, I'll have
Speaker 5: to go to college. And my grades were such that
Speaker 5: colleges that I had been instructed to apply to work
Speaker 5: you know names, I had never heard of her.
Speaker 3: So I was maybe I didn't want to do that.
Speaker 1: You've talked a lot about first Bueller, but you beat
Speaker 1: out a significant amount of people for this role, very
Speaker 1: famous people who have gone on she when did that pivot?
Speaker 1: So like the bottle yum ends and then you're like.
Speaker 2: Okay, I'm back in the room. I'm not You're still
Speaker 2: with the sage.
Speaker 3: And she's still going away. You know, they were really
Speaker 3: trying and I love FEFE.
Speaker 5: What happened was I then read for a four hour
Speaker 5: play about gay people in a Broadway theater, which seemed
Speaker 5: you know.
Speaker 2: You're talking about tor song.
Speaker 3: Yeah, nobody knew was Torch song.
Speaker 5: It was just this incredibly long you know, But I
Speaker 5: read for it with this very strange you know man
Speaker 5: that I met with Harvey Harvey Fire, yes, and but
Speaker 5: he was really nice and actually when I read it,
Speaker 5: I was like, this is so funny.
Speaker 3: I loved it.
Speaker 5: And then you know, the producer came out and said
Speaker 5: we want to hire They said we want to hire you,
Speaker 5: and my agent was like, well, I'm not sure your
Speaker 5: first job should be you know this or so long
Speaker 5: and outside of the norm, I guess, meaning don't play
Speaker 5: a gay guy. Actually he was gay, you know, it
Speaker 5: wasn't no but bot and I was like, I'm not
Speaker 5: going to go back to play bubble.
Speaker 2: Um.
Speaker 5: No, I'm doing this part right, thank you very much.
Speaker 5: And uh so, uh you know, the play opened, nobody
Speaker 5: came at first, the roof leaked in. Water literally poured
Speaker 5: into the apartment, our fake apartment.
Speaker 3: It was over four hours long. I think I saw it.
Speaker 2: I don't, but good, it was very good. Did it
Speaker 2: get cut down eventually? Okay, because I don't remember.
Speaker 3: This was the full version. I was also assistant stage manager. No. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I was supposed to run the slide show for Act two.
Speaker 1: Beauty of sitting backstage with your dad all those years, yes,
Speaker 1: prap that piece.
Speaker 3: I was fired from that because all I did was complain.
Speaker 5: I was like, I can't get ready for the third
Speaker 5: act if I'm making the slides go.
Speaker 3: And they're like, okay, don't we'll do that part.
Speaker 5: All all you have to do is replug the lightboard
Speaker 5: between act two and three. And I was like, well
Speaker 5: then I have to go out through the audience and
Speaker 5: plug in my costume you know I want. They're like, already,
Speaker 5: don't do anything. So I got myself out of that
Speaker 5: fuck from the back.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 3: One hundred and seven dollars a week that job but.
Speaker 5: Then, you know, the times came to that show Yep
Speaker 5: and melt Goos, Soewen was like, this is fantastic, and
Speaker 5: suddenly it was packed.
Speaker 3: Nobody could get in.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So now casting.
Speaker 5: Directors and stuff, when I go to audition, I say
Speaker 5: you want to see me, I'm in, and they're.
Speaker 3: Like, oh, I hear that play is great, can you
Speaker 3: get me in?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 5: So now it's a very different perspective. When you're at
Speaker 5: a meeting and the director says, can I get a ticket?
Speaker 5: Or I just saw you Tuesday, You're in a whole
Speaker 5: different league.
Speaker 6: You know.
Speaker 5: So that was it, and that led to you know,
Speaker 5: probably Brighton Beach Memoirs on Broadway and War Games. You know,
Speaker 5: I was auditioning for War Games at the same time
Speaker 5: as Brighton Beach Memoirs. Basically got those two parts at
Speaker 5: the same time, doing Torch Song at Night and auditioning
Speaker 5: for and I got cast.
Speaker 3: In a lead of a movie and a lead of
Speaker 3: a Broadway but I got cast in Brighton Beach.
Speaker 5: And while I'm auditioning for Brighton Beach, They're like, by
Speaker 5: the way, we're doing a movie this summer. Neil Simon
Speaker 5: Max Dugan returns with Marsha Mason and and they say,
Speaker 5: you read these scenes out loud.
Speaker 3: This is at the audition for Brighton Beach.
Speaker 5: So I read those scenes with the director sitting next
Speaker 5: to him, Urba Ross, and I left there and they're like, okay, both,
Speaker 5: do we want you to do the movie? And so
Speaker 5: suddenly I had a leading the Broadably Show and then
Speaker 5: my first movie, which I was so I didn't have
Speaker 5: any feelings about until I called with this point twenty
Speaker 5: nineteen nineteen.
Speaker 3: I called my dad, who is.
Speaker 5: By the way, dying of cancer, just found out and
Speaker 5: he goes crazy with excitement. And that was when I
Speaker 5: was like, oh, this is kind of a big deal,
Speaker 5: you know, and does not happen. Yeah, it really doesn't happen.
Speaker 5: But when you're that age, it's sort of like, you know,
Speaker 5: I don't know, and I think. I leave Torch Song
Speaker 5: to go shoot.
Speaker 3: Max stugen returns.
Speaker 5: And while I'm shooting Max Stugan returns, Wargames is still
Speaker 5: having callbacks.
Speaker 3: That's what happens.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 5: So my dad says, they said they want me to
Speaker 5: read it again for war Games, and I've read so
Speaker 5: many times, and my dad said, ask them to see
Speaker 5: if they could see some dailies from Max Dugan what
Speaker 5: you're shooting now, which was really smart. And I told
Speaker 5: Herbert Ross and he was like, oh, absolutely, i'll run.
Speaker 5: I know just what to show them, and he showed
Speaker 5: a good scene of me and Jason Lobard's for Marty Brest,
Speaker 5: who was directing war Games.
Speaker 3: And that's how I got that.
Speaker 5: You know, I had a lot of help from people
Speaker 5: like Herbert Ross or my dad or all these people
Speaker 5: making very smart decisions for me.
Speaker 3: You know, you need that, and even fifisk so hard
Speaker 3: as soon as I got.
Speaker 2: Up, did you when did you drop fefee?
Speaker 5: Well that's what's so tragic about show business. As soon
Speaker 5: as I got a few real jobs, I was like,
Speaker 5: see a fief. Yeah, I have to get somebody with
Speaker 5: a more serious name, you know.
Speaker 3: And it wasn't fun. I mean it was awful.
Speaker 5: No, they weren't quite equipped to you know. I was
Speaker 5: trying to rush the war Games to decide. That's what
Speaker 5: happened because I had another little play and I was like,
Speaker 5: they have to decide or I'm not going to be
Speaker 5: a ballimore, I said. And then Herbert Ross heard that,
Speaker 5: the director, and he said, I'd like you to meet
Speaker 5: somebody from William Morris. I think you should talk to
Speaker 5: Arnold Steve will And I talked to him and he said,
Speaker 5: you cannot tell MGM. They have to decide now because
Speaker 5: you have an off brought. You have a summerstock play
Speaker 5: coming up, so don't stop that.
Speaker 2: Zip it.
Speaker 3: You can't do that.
Speaker 5: So I was like, okay, I was at a restaurant,
Speaker 5: you know, on a phone booth, and he said, don't
Speaker 5: do that, and he said, and I'll And I was like,
Speaker 5: and you can represent me now for and he.
Speaker 2: Said, yeah.
Speaker 5: So I had to call. Did I call? I probably didn't.
Speaker 5: I probably had somebody else call.
Speaker 2: Why because you were shy.
Speaker 3: I'm probably scared to call.
Speaker 5: My agents would oh kill themselves to get me to
Speaker 5: this point to say, now that I'm doing better, you're
Speaker 5: on your own.
Speaker 1: I know, you know it's going. I mean, it's the
Speaker 1: curse of small agency. They build and then you go.
Speaker 1: But that's the reality of life.
Speaker 6: That's true.
Speaker 2: Welcome back to Table for two.
Speaker 1: Matthew has been in countless amazing films, but Ferris Bueller's
Speaker 1: Day Off holds a soft spot.
Speaker 2: In many viewers' hearts. Being a huge fan of John
Speaker 2: Hughes movies.
Speaker 1: I wonder what was it like to get the role
Speaker 1: and to work with them? So war Games comes first?
Speaker 1: Is Bueller is just the ultimate game changer? Is that
Speaker 1: when you realize, Okay.
Speaker 3: Well I did it. You know, I guess so, but
Speaker 3: not just I. Already I thought I was doing pretty well.
Speaker 5: I had war Games and yeah, and it was being
Speaker 5: sent a lot, and one of those was was Ferris Bueller.
Speaker 5: And and everybody was like, John Hughes is the thank
Speaker 5: you listeners at home on having another day.
Speaker 2: We didn't have to sure that, No, it's fine.
Speaker 3: He was called the Steven Spielberg of teen movies.
Speaker 5: But I didn't immediately even I remember I was like, well,
Speaker 5: I'm talking to the audience and just doing that in
Speaker 5: the play. I keep talking to the audience. Maybe I
Speaker 5: should I should look for something else. And afore mentioned
Speaker 5: Arnold Seafall that time I flew to New York like
Speaker 5: I hadn't even hung up the phone, discussing with him
Speaker 5: whether I should do Forst. Fueler, and he was basically
Speaker 5: standing behind me saying let's talk about it, and breaking
Speaker 5: the fourth wall is yeah, I thought, I mean, you
Speaker 5: do it like no other Well he was like, yeah,
Speaker 5: you're doing it.
Speaker 3: And even my mom, I remember, was like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 3: you better do that. So I did it.
Speaker 5: Not to say I didn't think it was great when
Speaker 5: I read it. And you know, John was a very
Speaker 5: he was rather chilly character when you would first meet.
Speaker 3: Oh really, it wasn't like instantly, oh this is you know, neat.
Speaker 3: But I grew to adore him.
Speaker 5: Too, actually, and it was an amazing experience, you know.
Speaker 1: And then The Freshman, and The Freshman's a really fun
Speaker 1: movie and it's a really interesting plot line, and you
Speaker 1: work with Brando, which sort of get him still in
Speaker 1: the good Brando before he kind of lost the plot. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, I feel what was that as an actor?
Speaker 1: What was that like to step onto a set and
Speaker 1: know that you're working with the man who changed the acting.
Speaker 3: I couldn't believe it was happening, you know.
Speaker 5: When I first got sent the script and I was like,
Speaker 5: wait a minute, I'm gonna we're gonna be all signed
Speaker 5: up to do this movie.
Speaker 3: And then he's gonna quit, right And they're like no, no,
Speaker 3: And I.
Speaker 5: Was like, you're pretending that he's doing the movie so
Speaker 5: that you know, I'll play a team. One last time,
Speaker 5: and that's how badly you want me, or pretending that
Speaker 5: Marlon Brando was gonna be like no, we went and
Speaker 5: met Marlon Brando on his island and he's doing it.
Speaker 5: I swear to God, Bergman wonderful as a screenwriter and
Speaker 5: director and okay, and I still never really thought he chose,
Speaker 5: you know, not really. And then but I go to
Speaker 5: Toronto and we rehearsed, me and Bruno Kirby, Penelope and Miller,
Speaker 5: and uh, the day that Marlon is coming, I remember
Speaker 5: Bruno Kirby sat in the lobby of the hotel like with.
Speaker 3: A newspaper with with the holes cuff of the eyes.
Speaker 5: I mean, he really did have like a book with
Speaker 5: him because he wanted to see him walk into the right,
Speaker 5: which I believe he did.
Speaker 3: Finally he was like, yeah, he's here. We saw him.
Speaker 3: He walked in.
Speaker 5: And then the next day's rehearsal and we're all rehearsing,
Speaker 5: and now Marlon is a little bit late, okay, So
Speaker 5: I was like, ah, literally it it's a little longer,
Speaker 5: and I'm like, right now, it happens now, Mark.
Speaker 3: It turns out to be back in Tahiti.
Speaker 2: He's back on the Island.
Speaker 5: Yeah, so, but sure enough, maybe an hour or whatever
Speaker 5: it is. He and uh and and we all go
Speaker 5: to the you know, the apartment door and open it,
Speaker 5: and Marlon Brando is on his hands and knees because
Speaker 5: he's apologizing for being late.
Speaker 3: You're kidding, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, you know, whatever happened.
Speaker 5: And so he was on his knees, I think, like
Speaker 5: in a praying thing, you know, jokingly apologizing. And my
Speaker 5: memory is he had a sort of a cowboy hat on,
Speaker 5: somewhat feminine sunglasses, and a valure sweatsuit of some kind.
Speaker 3: I've never been sure if that's really what I saw.
Speaker 2: But that's my Stanley.
Speaker 3: He did not look like Stanley Kulowski.
Speaker 5: But and then he got up and you know, hugged
Speaker 5: everybody and sat down, and we all rehearsed together at
Speaker 5: the at the dining table, told a few stories. He
Speaker 5: didn't really want to rehearse very much. He said, I
Speaker 5: don't really liked hers very much. And he's sure enough.
Speaker 5: There he was, and he was very friendly to me
Speaker 5: and particularly to Bruno Kirby. He took a shine to
Speaker 5: Bruno Kirber really and he was hard on production. Okay,
Speaker 5: you know, he's somebody who always thought they were out
Speaker 5: to get him and they needed to be struck down,
Speaker 5: you know. Yeah, so he was hard for people who
Speaker 5: had to schedule him or pay years of yeah something. Yeah,
Speaker 5: and that's where his difficultness. It wasn't for others. If
Speaker 5: you're acting with him, I don't they're playing. Very few
Speaker 5: actors who would have said, I don't know, but who
Speaker 5: would say Marlon was difficult or I didn't like working
Speaker 5: with him. I think people who would say he was
Speaker 5: difficult are people who are in a position of saying,
Speaker 5: you have to be here an extra two hours or
Speaker 5: we're going to lose this location.
Speaker 1: Did you walk away from that experience not only in disbelief,
Speaker 1: but like well with film, get like a added something
Speaker 1: new to your craft, your art by working with him.
Speaker 3: I hope it did. I wanted it to.
Speaker 5: I mean I knew that it was a huge opportunity
Speaker 5: to watch him work up close.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 5: I mean, he's basically my favorite actor ever, so every
Speaker 5: moment I had with him was precious and heightened.
Speaker 3: You almost have to get over that a little bit
Speaker 3: so that you.
Speaker 5: Can right, you know, be a live in the scene
Speaker 5: and not just real a crazy person staring at him,
Speaker 5: you know, not speaking like actually yeah, yeah. It had
Speaker 5: a surreal feeling. I bet it was very hard to
Speaker 5: be like just doing a scene.
Speaker 3: But then again, he's so good and was so entertaining
Speaker 3: to watch that.
Speaker 5: It was really funny and made me want to, you know,
Speaker 5: get the ball back in some way.
Speaker 3: So I adored working with him.
Speaker 5: It was like it was it was like hitting a
Speaker 5: ball back and forth with the you know, agacy or
Speaker 5: something or you know, it just was like top level.
Speaker 3: This is just great.
Speaker 1: Matthew has shared so many great stories with us today,
Speaker 1: and if he ever wrote a book, I'm sure it
Speaker 1: would be as fascinating as our launch. But would he
Speaker 1: ever consider putting his life on the page after living
Speaker 1: so much.
Speaker 2: Of it on the screen.
Speaker 1: So there's some fun questions as we come to her close,
Speaker 1: And I really hope everyone enjoyed this because I was
Speaker 1: so forward.
Speaker 2: Did you, Matthew?
Speaker 3: I think you're an incredibly good interviewer.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Thank you.
Speaker 1: Would you ever write a book about your life or memoir,
Speaker 1: you know, kind of focusing it on it's so your
Speaker 1: your life is very fascinating.
Speaker 3: I have thought about it a little bit.
Speaker 5: I mean once in a while people bring it up,
Speaker 5: or but maybe if I could do, if I had
Speaker 5: some good.
Speaker 3: Idea about it.
Speaker 5: I I don't just want to, like, I don't want
Speaker 5: to betray people, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: It's hard.
Speaker 5: I don't want to What does Marlon Brando want me
Speaker 5: to say about I'm not that concerned everything's written about him.
Speaker 5: But but I get it. There's like that sensitivity.
Speaker 3: People are alive of being.
Speaker 2: Yeah, does a title come to mind?
Speaker 3: Oh?
Speaker 5: I used to have a few titles, Okay, just a
Speaker 5: joke with my friends. The first one was called they
Speaker 5: Called Me Pal, and it's just a picture of me
Speaker 5: with pictures of different movie stars. Who have you know
Speaker 5: that you Marlon Brando or Ta Bards or Morgan Freemen.
Speaker 3: They called me Pal. What was the title?
Speaker 5: The second installment was called Preserving the Island, which was
Speaker 5: about hair loss and trying to keep the hair that's
Speaker 5: in the middle in the front of your head connected
Speaker 5: to the back of your head.
Speaker 3: So those are the mill.
Speaker 2: Years, Okay, those are familiars.
Speaker 5: And the final was called Maybe I'm a Monster, and
Speaker 5: it was just this is something me and Kenny Lonergan
Speaker 5: came up. But it was a you know, a trilogy
Speaker 5: about my life, and the third book, I was just
Speaker 5: sort of in a you know, pants and a sweater
Speaker 5: looking off into a sunset.
Speaker 3: You know, maybe I'm a monster. Maybe maybe I did
Speaker 3: a lot of bad things. And uh so those are
Speaker 3: the three books.
Speaker 1: Zach cracks me up. Do you have when you sit down?
Speaker 1: Is there like a decade of music that you just
Speaker 1: sink into.
Speaker 2: I always kind of.
Speaker 1: Look at you and I feel like the sort of jazz,
Speaker 1: sort of yeah, old.
Speaker 2: School, I know, what do you what kind of music
Speaker 2: does mb You.
Speaker 5: Realize how predictable you are now the computers because they're like, oh,
Speaker 5: you're just that type. We know exactly what you want.
Speaker 5: You know, you thought you're so unique, Like nothing at
Speaker 5: all is unique about you.
Speaker 3: You know everything I like.
Speaker 2: Right, everything? Yeah, they know it before you know it.
Speaker 2: Now you think it and it shows up on your phone.
Speaker 3: Know something. I haven't even said it out loud.
Speaker 2: No, you know it scares the hell out of mean.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I like, you know, jazz.
Speaker 5: I mean, I like very eclectic music, but I definitely
Speaker 5: like from the time I was in my teens or twenties,
Speaker 5: I started liking old you know, Louis Armstrong and I
Speaker 5: like twenties, thirties, forties.
Speaker 3: I love that kind of music I like. And then
Speaker 3: I like, you know Marvin.
Speaker 5: Gay or that Yeah, Ara, you know, and then I
Speaker 5: kind of dropped out after that.
Speaker 2: Ask me too. Then it's like enough, I don't even know.
Speaker 5: I like but when when the kids play the tunes
Speaker 5: for me, I like them, but I don't really know
Speaker 5: what any of it is.
Speaker 1: Well, Matthew Brodock, I have to say this, having lunch
Speaker 1: with you with a microphone or without, and dinner is
Speaker 1: a pure joy for me. Your family, I think, is incredible.
Speaker 1: I love Sarah Jessica Is. I can't say enough about
Speaker 1: the family you created. Your children are lovely. You're well
Speaker 1: raised or polite and yours too. Thank you for joining
Speaker 1: me on Table for two. Thank you absolutely, door you
Speaker 1: and love you.
Speaker 3: I love you too. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Thanks everyone, have a great day, enjoy the rest of
Speaker 2: your day.
Speaker 3: Great day.
Speaker 1: Table for two with Bruce Bozi is produced by iHeart
Speaker 1: Radio seven three seven Park and Airmail. Our executive producers
Speaker 1: are Bruce Bosi and Nathan King. Table for two is
Speaker 1: researched and written by Bridget arsenalt. Our sound engineers are
Speaker 1: Paul Bowman and Alyssa Midcalf Table for two's la production
Speaker 1: team is Danielle.
Speaker 2: Romo and Lorraine Verrez.
Speaker 1: Our music supervisor is Randall poster Our talent booking is
Speaker 1: by James Harkin. Special thanks to Amy Sugarman, Uni Cher,
Speaker 1: Kevin Yvane, Bobby Bauer, Alison Kant Graber, Jody Williams, Rita Sodi,
Speaker 1: and the team at Via Cororoda in Manhattan's West Village.
Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.